The U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has released its ranking by average airfare of the 100 busiest airports (domestic pax only) in the country for the 4th quarter 2012. HSV is at the top of the list, followed by CVG and IAH in the top three. 8 of the top 10 airports are fortress hubs (although MEM is on its way out), with HSV and GRR the only non-hub airports in the top 10 most expensive.

CVG is not surprising at all. A highly contentious issue in the tri-state with many businesses fuming about both the loss of service over the years coupled with the high fares. Hopefully, the additions by F9 and UA to west coast hub DEN, along with rumored additions by US/AA, will help to drop this price.

I'm actually considering flying into IND this summer in order to save money. 90 miles driving over about 1 hour and 15 minutes is no different than hopping on the Narita Express to come home to Shibuya from Narita Airport (even though the distance is much different) and that will probably save me over $400 on my ticket....or even more.

My contribution didn't follow the way the discussion moved, but fits better here:

-----------------

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this report based solely on the average fare of all tickets originating from that airport, with no weighting for where the final destination is? For example, I could easily predict that the average fare paid for flights from JFK/EWR to be higher than LGA (or IAD vs. DCA) because the former have longer-distance itineraries to LAX, SFO, SEA, etc (set aside DCA perimeter exemptions, please).

I fly to HSV 3-4x yearly, and have for about 6 years. I guess I usually get lucky (rather, my company does) - I have never had to pay what I consider to be outrageous airfare. I'm almost always going via DFW on AA.

Quoting simairlinenet (Reply 3):Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this report based solely on the average fare of all tickets originating from that airport, with no weighting for where the final destination is? For example, I could easily predict that the average fare paid for flights from JFK/EWR to be higher than LGA (or IAD vs. DCA) because the former have longer-distance itineraries to LAX, SFO, SEA, etc (set aside DCA perimeter exemptions, please).

I believe these take into account connections, for all domestic itineraries.

'902

life wasn't worth the balance, or the crumpled paper it was written on

Quoting TWA902fly (Reply 5):I believe these take into account connections, for all domestic itineraries.

Correct, but a more accurate understanding of expensive airports would be yield, not fare. If people flying from HSV tend to have longer trips than people flying from BHM (#39 on the list), then one would naturally expect the average fare to be higher for HSV than BHM. What I'm saying is that I don't believe this list takes into account the total distance traveled and so is therefore not a true reflection of expensive vs. not.

Quoting PHX787 (Reply 1):I'm actually considering flying into IND this summer in order to save money. 90 miles driving over about 1 hour and 15 minutes is no different than hopping on the Narita Express to come home to Shibuya from Narita Airport (even though the distance is much different) and that will probably save me over $400 on my ticket....or even more.

IND actually ran an ad campaign in the CVG market several years ago to draw attention to lower fares at IND. The ads, some placed near CVG itself, encouraged CVG travelers to "leave CVG behIND". In fact, IND's single largest source by far of fare-hunters from other cities is CVG.

IND also ran a similar campaign in SDF at the same time (which I found puzzling as SDF has low fares and WN like IND).

Quoting awacsooner (Reply 6):I don't get the IAH listing...cause HOU is just down the road

Living in Houston when I look at buying a ticket I look at non-stop flights first, then pricing, then if I have to drive across town to get to the airport. Then toss in the frequent flier program if you are a Premium level on the UA program and folks don't want lose those diminishing perks.

IAH pax have been paying high fares for quite a few years, but it seems more after this merger got moving and I'm not surprised to find it high on the list.

I'd be curious to find out if there is any surveys that consider the number of miles flown per dollar amount of the ticket and wonder how that would look? Reason I'm curious is from HOU Southwest has a large number of flights within Texas and neighboring states which will help drive the average cost of a ticket lower compared to IAH, or so I'd think.

Things that make ya go hmmmm.

Any views shared are strictly my own and do not a represent those of any former employer.

Quoting IAHFLYR (Reply 11):IAH pax have been paying high fares for quite a few years, but it seems more after this merger got moving and I'm not surprised to find it high on the list.

Leaves me to wonder why WN left IAH...that could have been a decent market from other cities than just DAL. They're running DCA and IAD...EWR and LGA now. Maybe a re-entry into IAH isn't a bad thing. Besides, their gentleman's agreement was with Continental, not United.

Quoting runner13 (Reply 14):HSV is there because of all the contractors that fly in and out of there.

And FL was never able to make a dent in the HSV-DC market - yet that was HSV's biggest chance to lower their fares. Now with FL gone, HSV is petitioning the DOT to allow smaller airports to have the airport and not the airlines set fares from an airport. I don't think the DOT will bite.

Returning to FL and HSV: their choice of BWI instead of IAD or DCA probably wasn't the problem... the federal contractor loyalties to UA and US were. Had the contractors supported the LCC in the first place, FL/WN probably wouldn't have packed up and left from HSV. There are plenty of other examples of an LCC, most often FL, leaving because of business loyalties to legacies. SAV and TOL with the business communiity's cozy relationship with DL in both cases come to mind.

No surprise still seeing CVG on the list, I'll be interested to see next quarter's results however with F9 now in the mix.

Hardly anything at all. One flight six days a week is not going to make much of a dent.

It's actually operated 7 times weekly with F9 operating 2 flights on Sunday I believe. And I'm not so sure that they won't make a dent, with F9's connections, they'll be competing on more itineraries than simply CVG-DEN.

Eh, this list is questionable. I'm not doubting it, but Forbes Magazine listed SHV as 7th highest in the country, back in 2010, and SHV isn't even listed now? I can assure you, cost to fly from SHV, either roundtrip or one way, are still incredibly expensive.

Quoting braniff722 (Reply 18):
Eh, this list is questionable. I'm not doubting it, but Forbes Magazine listed SHV as 7th highest in the country, back in 2010, and SHV isn't even listed now? I can assure you, cost to fly from SHV, either roundtrip or one way, are still incredibly expensive.

SHV isn't in the top 100 busiest domestic airports in the country as of 2011 (the criteria for being ranked). It was #163 in 2011.

Plain and simple, HSV has the highest fares in the country because although our population base is incredibly educated and intelligent, they are stupid. The Airport Authority included.

Let's start with Allegiant when they flew here. The Airport Authority touted their arrival as the greatest thing since sliced bread. I watched several of those flights leave full, but the pax appeared to be the type who would have driven to the beach rather than flown to Vegas. Vegas was cheaper in this case.

Next, we have Air Tran. This was touted as the best news since the internal combustion engine was invented. With few connecting opportunities and head to head competition with USAir into DCA, there wasn't much to expect here. Three ATL turns would have made a huge dent and possibly kept Southwest here, although even is you filled every airplane they sent through slam full, I doubt it since in Southwest's eyes, they already serve the HSV market through BHM.

Now. Let's get to the population base. This town has a rich history of not supporting it's assets. We've gone through more hockey teams than I can count. Few concerts come through here anymore. The baseball team is likely on it's way out of town. Why? Because once the novelty wears off, no one supports it. Including the city. This applies to the airport as well. Everyone bitched and moaned when Southwest dropped us here, then promptly bought a ticket on them out of BHM.

This city can land a man on the moon, but can't understand simple supply and demand. High fares or not, if local pax use the local airport and stop driving to BHM or BNA, passenger levels increase here making it more attractive for increased service to more cities meaning more competition / lower airfares. Instead of getting with the program, Huntsvillians will continue doing what they do best (aside from developing spacecraft and missile systems), and bitch about the problem while feeding it.

People DO realize that the KCAB is part of what makes CVG expensive? It's not simply SA)">DL getting their jollies charging a high fare. In CVG it's like people forget that there are other carriers charging the SAME price--but it's all "big bad Delta." Sheese...this town hated SA)">DL WITH the hub and now they hate them WITHOUT the hub. Use it or lose it...

My comments/opinions are my own and are not to be construed as the opinion(s) of my employer.